Without A Word
by Chaame
Summary: Denny's blown away with the new farmer and all there is about her. Without a word and a crippling fear of men, how will he break down that wall? Well, with pushing efforts and fish, he might be able to do it. Denny X Chelsea, Denny P.O.V. Third-Person.
1. Tommorow

**Without A Word**

**Chapter One**: Tomorrow…

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Harvest Moon does not belong to me, nor do I intend to pretend it does. Chelsea, Denny, and all other Harvest Moon characters, along with places and ideas that relate to the Harvest Moon franchise do not belong to me.

Hollow Your Heart is not on Hiatus or anything like that; it's just going to take a slightly longer time to get each chapter out. With that said, I decided to do this fun little thing. I'm hoping it will be a short little side story, having nothing to do with Follow Your Heart, but fun none the less. You see, I was dying to do some good third person writing and was getting tired of the first person of Follow Your Heart, so this will be a side project I'll be doing. (Well, those reasons and because I am infatuated with Denny right now.) Well, as I was thinking this one up, I stumbled across a story called Hear My Voice and I thought "CRAP". I had just had a creative-gasm and thought, why not have Chelsea as a shy little girl with bad problems, and Denny as her fun and cheery aid. Then of course, I saw Hear My Voice. Feeling as though I may be taken as stealing the thought, by both the author and readers, I asked the author if it was all right if I used the idea. The author herself had gotten the idea from a friend of hers, I believe, and I wanted to run it by both of them, seeing as they beat me to the punch. Therefore, with the permission of both Kirara2256 and YAYfanfics101, I am putting out this story. It's only fair to everyone involved that I've done this, seeing as she did beat me to the punch.

Anyways, moving on.

**Special Thanks To**: Kirara2256 and YAYFanfics10 for giving me permission to use the concept. Thank you both.

**Without a Word** is rated** T**. Suitable for ages 13 and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

**WARNING: RATING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

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Five little islands, miles off the main land, sat in silence. The early morning breeze and cold, unloving barren winter kept all the residents bundled in their beds until the late hours of morning. Plants hid in the cold, icy dirt, trees stooped sad and lonely in their spot, and all but one man stirred against the cold. Islands, blotted against the sky blue ocean, silent and cold. To the north, connected by a short bridge, sat an island riddled with weeds and stones. Down, on the southernmost part of the island sat a rickety house, ready to fall from winter's loveless chill. Even the water that had slid across the soggy roofing had frozen over in the night, now only the sun, hidden by the orange and brown clouds, could have a chance of thawing it. North, near the thick trees, cold and lonely, sat another small building, it too, ready to fall. Even the small pond on this island had a thin, yet chunky layer of ice across the surface, though it had yet to snow. The dewy morning was the only hint to the islands that any water, other than that of the salty ocean, remained unfrozen on the world.

East sat another island, with crumbling ruins of a long lost Lighthouse. For an island that was always lonely, it was the most welcoming to the breeze. Then to the west, far across the still ocean sat another chunk of land without life. This was the only island in the string that always seemed to bring hope of spring to the residents, but now, even this island sat cold and forgotten. Trees that had brought life to the island sat naked against the sweeping breeze. Grass frozen solid in it spot, and dirt dangerous with half frozen water. Even the small dock sat frozen, begging to be thawed.

Another island, sitting centered of the island normally showed the most life and joy, but this season had snuffed it out. Killing any laughter and play of children, gossips of other mothers, and anything left to enjoy. Each house sat lonely, nearly frozen over without a hint of life within. No lights, no noise, just loneliness.

The eastern island showed the first hints of light, or life beyond. Blots of sunshine streaking across the bridge connecting it with the centermost island. Sunshine touching against the rooftops and casting a glare against the glass windows. Only to be quickly hidden by shifting clouds, then revealed a moment later. The inn sat silent, the Café without the usual chatter, it seemed the only house with any hint of life was the mansion. A dim glow showed though the curtains, but in turn, made the house look lonelier. Further, across the island, the farthest house, resting against the breach, seemed to stir. One would find it ironic; the house that sat on the closest verge of crumbling down was the only one that still showed life and warmth.

Then the white-grey door slid open, letting the prickling breeze wash into the sad little house and a man exited. He pressed a purple bandanna against his head while tying the ends of it into a thick bundle behind his head. His curly brown hair peaked out against the cold and shelter of the bandanna to brush against the deep toasty skin of his forehead. With a yawn and a stretch, his brilliant brown eyes turned to the grey, orange, and yellow clouds, thick with coming snow, and he smiled. Suddenly he reached his hands out to the sky, stretching his fingers out, waiting for the smallest touch of sunlight. Then, as though he had awoken the sun himself, the clouds thinned against the sky, lighting up pink and yellow, leaving streaks of peaking sun against the ocean. The breeze picked up and skimmed against the ocean, bringing the slightest burst of warmth with it, and washing it over the man's face. The ocean stirred in response, waves now licking against the breach, pulling clumps of seaweed back to the ocean. Within moments, the first door opened and a groggy blonde girl, clad in a thick green dress, stepped out of her house. Then another blonde, tiny girl, only about ten. Across to the other island came more swinging doors, red head, pink heads, bald, another blonde and her mother, a brunette. Everyone pilled out, bringing life to the cold islands. The islands awoke, bringing morning to all the residents, and waking even the island far off to the northeast, which had no residents. As though the ruin of the lighthouse would rebuild itself. Every island awoke, except for one. Weed ridden, stone covered, and lonely, the island sat in silence. Not even the rays of light would touch against the empty house that sat on it. No one had lived there in a while, and it seemed like no one would.

With a smile on his face, the dark skinned man finally dropped his arms and let himself bask in the sunlight and warmth. The islands behind him thrumming with life and movement. Soon, though, the island was nearly bustling with the activity of spring, and that was something not even a lot of sunshine could cause in dead winter. The man didn't think twice about it, and went about his fishing. Why question such a blessing?

Though it was late in the morning, he went out on the small boat, pushing it out against the open water. Net in hand he set out, though winter was even harsh for fish, there were still a few he had a chance of getting his hands around. He wasn't going to let a fishing opportunity pass him, no. Denny wasn't the kind of man to pass up fish unless it came as a direct risk to his health, or life.

Hours of open water, and a hand full of fish later, Denny was back on the island and surprised to see the island still had not calmed, though it was early afternoon. Winter would not snuff out whatever had gotten them riled up this time, it seemed. As he scanned the shore line, watching the beautiful Lanna pace back and forth with her hand to her mouth, and Julia chattering away with Elliot, Denny became curious. What could have them all so excited in this weather?

"Lanna!" He called out as he secured his boat. She turned on her toes to face him, her pin straight hair gliding around her shoulders and encasing her shoulders. A smile shone on her lips and she grabbed large chunks of the green fabric of her dress up in her hands and hurried over to him.

"Hi, Denny." She said, dropping the skirt of her dress down to her ankles again. Her wide brown eyes scanned over him.

"You seem happy today. Yet yesterday you were whining about the weather." Denny said, stepping out of his boat and gathering his net and cooler in his hands.

"Either clear up, or snow already is what I'm saying." Lanna said, flicking her hand up at the cloudy sky. "Anyways." She piped up suddenly. "Did you hear?" Denny grinned and stared up at the sky.

"It's going to snow tomorrow?" He asked, trying to tease his friend.

"Oh, I don't care about that, I care about this rumor I heard." Lanna said, leaning forward slightly and locking her fingers behind her back. Denny placed everything he had in his hands on the sandy beach, knowing having a conversations with Lanna would take a while.

"Wassat?" He said, as he snapped his feet together, placed his hands behind his back and leaned forward to mock Lanna.

"Oh, stop it. You're such a teaser." Lanna said, popping back up on her heels. "Anyways." She repeated her voice lifting as she readied herself to recite her little account of this morning. She always tended to do that, make a mountain out of an ant hill. "I got up this morning, and I was thinking, today's GOT to be boring. It still didn't snow and it was still cold, so I was pouting about when Sabrina came out of her house and came over to me. Which is weird, she never really talks to me. Nothing against her, Sabrina is a real nice girl, but she's insanely quiet, and that doesn't work for someone as talkative as me." She rambled on.

"Yeah, I know." Denny said with a wild grin as the thin girl gave him a harsh glar.

"Oh stop it." Lanna scoffed back. He shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets. "Anyways again. So she said that yesterday she had been in the Café and Julia is always at the Café when Sabrina goes, and you know how she likes to gossip, like Mirabelle. So Sabrina was eating her salad, which I think is weird, that girl is skinny as it is, she should go over to the Dinner and eat more hearty food so she doesn't break in half. Stop looking at me like that." Lanna said suddenly, placing her hands on her hips. Denny didn't notice that he had been giving her a weird look and flashed his usual grin to cover up his mistake. "So Sabrina was sitting there and Elliot comes in, because apparently Julia asked him to meet her at the Dinner, er, Café, don't know why I said Dinner." She laughed to herself before continuing. "I guess he thought it was something more because he was blushing a whole lot and you know how he gets even clumsier around her. Yeah. Anyways, so Julia was like, hey I heard Natalie talking about the Ranch and I wanted to know if you heard anything about it, and he was all like, yeah, I don't know much, cause he never does, but apparently he said that Natalie, Taro, and Felicia said something about the ranch being bought and he wasn't really included in the talk, they always do that to him, so-"

"Breathe, breathe, its okay, I'm not going to run away, you can still talk afer. Just breathe." Denny said, sliding his hands up and down to simulate breathing. Lanna's open palm slapped against his shoulder.

"Shut up!" Lanna said, glaring at him. "One of these days I'm just going to stop talking to you all together."

"Really?!" Denny pretended to be happy. "My saving grace! It finally worked! I totally thought you would figure it out last year when you moved here. Nope, took you this long!" Yeah, it had nearly been a year since Lanna moved in, which meant more for Denny, he had been on Sprout Island for a whole year and a half.

"You're so mean." She said, about to turn back and head away. Denny knew it was time to win her back; he had gone a little far with the teasing. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and moved close to her.

"You were saying no one includes Elliot in anything." He said softly, watching a soft blush dance across her cheeks.

"Yeah, well. Elliot said that the Ranch was bought off and that someone would be coming soon to take it over but he does not a lot about it." Lanna said, smiling at him.

"Interesting, we're getting a new resident? It's about time, that island has been deserted for such a long time." Denny said, letting his fingers slide through Lanna's soft golden hair.

"Yeah, I know. I was going to ask Natalie about it, but she seemed busy with her grandfather. They were running back and forth all morning. Which is weird. Natalie is such a tomboy but she fallows everything Taro says without a second question." Lanna said, smiling up at Denny.

"Well, I would love to chat some more, but I got to get these fish inside. With how little fish are swimming around I can't ship any of the off for money, gotta keep them all for food." Denny said, releasing Lanna to gather his things back up. "I'll see you around though."

"Okay, see you later." Lanna said, and then turned on her heels to prance back off with her skirts held in her hands.

Denny held back another smile as he watched her disappear into her house. Lanna was a fun girl, well, the only girl he really ever hung out with. As he turned back to his little purple topped house, he thought over all the people on the island. Taro, bald and small, bossy little fellow. Felicia, his daughter, pink hair and thin eyes, then her children, shy Elliot and tough as nails Natalie. Elliot, pink hair, Natalie a redhead, which was a little odd. Then Mirabelle, the fun woman who ran her little shop with the help of her long legged daughter, Julia. Chen and his son Charlie at the general store. Nick at the Dinner, knew how to prepare fish like a god. Martin, and Ray the Fly anglers on the island. Halia, running the Café, Carol at the Inn. Regis, mining company president and his shy daughter Sabrina. Lanna, Pierre the cook, then Gannon and Eliza, carpenter and daughter, then finally the weekly visitor, Vaughn.

Somehow, Denny and Vaughn managed to get along despite Vaughn's quiet nature. Unlike Sabrina who was quiet due to being shy, Vaughn was silent because he found conversing a waste of time. Denny stuffed the fish in the fridge, folded up the net, and placed it away. Vaughn was nice to hang out with, but that was it. Too quiet for Denny's rash and fun loving nature.

The thought then passed his mind, hopefully the new resident would be quiet and withdrawn. What fun was that? He needed another him to hang out with, really. Someone to fish with, laugh with, and just have fun with. Someone he didn't have to slowly win over, someone rash and exciting, and possibly, female.

"Wake up, Popper." Denny called, turning and looking at the small bird cage in the corner of the room. The soft chirp of a bird came from under the shredded paper at the bottom of the cage. "Come on buddy." He called again, watching as a little black bird peeked up from the shredded paper. It chirped again, sounding annoyed, but pulled itself up anyways. As it begun to groom itself Denny stepped over the cage, which sat permanently open so the bird could go around at his leisure, and picked the bird up. It chirped again and pecked lightly at his hand as it walked up his arm and perched on his shoulder.

Denny headed out of his house, meeting the still cold winter afternoon with more cheeriness. The only thing that could put a damper on Denny's day was a complete lack of fish. Other than that, it was cheers and grins. Popper on the other hand pushed against his jaw to get the warmth of Denny's neck, which tickled him slightly. He placed his hand over the birds head and headed into the Café, grinning more as the burst of warmth and scent of sweet foods in his nose. Even Popper chirped up.

"Hey Vaughn." Denny said, waving at the man. Vaughn was a little odd, really. Wearing a wide brim, black and brown cowboy's hat, a brown vest with a black button down shirt beneath, black jeans and brown cowboy boots. Not to mention the oddness of a silver haired man at the age of twenty two, and to top it off he had purple eyes.

Vaughn didn't reply, never did, just simply nodded. Denny grinned to himself as he walked up to the little brunette lady, Halia. She politely smiled up at him, waiting for him to order.

"Just a sandwich." Denny said, watching the lady nod and get to work on his order. Popper chirped from his perch on Denny shoulder, reaching up to nip his ear lobe every now and again affectionately.

"Here you go." Halia said softly as she passed the food to him and took the money. Denny smiled on last time to her and headed over to his table.

"You heard about the new farmer?" Denny asked, looking over at Vaughn.

"All morning." Vaughn grumbled, sipping at his hot milk. "Julia wouldn't shut up about it." A scene played out in Denny's head. Julia rambling on with excitement then threatening Vaughn to be nice to whoever it was.

"Know anything specific about it?" Denny asked as he pulled his sandwich up to his lips.

"Nothing too specific." Vaughn answered. "Actually not much at all. 'Cept I better be nice or I'm going to find carrots in my luggage." Denny watched with amusement as Vaughn shivered lightly. That guy hated carrots like Denny hated junk ore. What was the point of something with no value, no use, and looked like crap? Sabrina had once presented Denny with a block of junk ore and now the two never spoke. Who would give trash to someone as a _present_? Real trash, not that completely valuable stuff people put in the trash and called trash, no, real, useless, trash. Just thinking about it irritated him.

"Yeah, somehow I got swept up in it too. Now my curiosity won't let it sit. I wonder what the guy will be like." Denny said, lifting a small bit of bread crust up to Popper.

"Dunno. Oh, almost forgot. That buffoon, Gannon, asked me to have you go see him today. Said he needed some help." Vaughn said. What would he need Denny's help for? Then again Denny always loved lending a hand, and had done so in the past.

He thought over times before, like Mirabelle's shop almost falling over. Denny offered without second thinking it to help. Probably because when his house had been damaged by the summer storm, Gannon offered to fix it free, so returning the favor was only right. Not to mention most everyone pitched in to help.

"Then I should get going soon." Denny said, shoving the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth.

"Later than." Vaughn said, taking another sip of his milk.

Denny gave Vaughn a little flick of a wave as he handed Popper the last bits of crumbs and headed out. He hurried out of the Café and passed by the tiny cook, Pierre. The guy was about Denny and Vaughn's age, but looked a few years younger than Natalie, who had turned eighteen last summer. The full lavender pink suit really wasn't helping the age issue either.

"Hello!" He piped lightly. Denny smiled at him, but continued down his path. Reaching Gannon's house quickly. He pushed in and looked up to see Gannon over in his kitchen.

"Hey, Gannon. Needed my help?" Denny said, pulling the door shut behind him. Gannon, the large bald man turned to him. The guy really wasn't a looker, wide heavy face, thick body, hunched back, and small eyes. Despite all that, he was probably the toughest guy on the island. Capable of whatever he set his mind to.

"Oh, wonderin' if you'd like to lend a hand. Gonna fix up the house on the ranch. Damn things 'bout ta fall apart." Gannon said, lifting himself from his seat.

"I'd love to." Denny said honestly. Winter didn't hold much to do during the day and he needed something to pre occupy himself.

"Gotta completely fix up that house, the sable need little bit o' work. Also gonna build a lumber shed. Shouldn't take too long, few days maybe." Gannon said, lifting a tool box off the table.

"Yeah, sure thing. Do you know when the rancher gets here?" Denny asked, moving towards Gannon.

"Thinkin' spring. Anyway, the house needs to get new flooring, new roofing, spot fixin' on the walls, so it'll take a lot longer than planned. Also need to get some feeders in the stables. This'll take us till the 29th." Gannon said. He was capable of building anything in a day's time and with three things on his list, 29th was reasonable, seeing as it was already the 26th.

"Great way to pass time. Let's get on that." Denny said as Gannon grabbed the handful of things Denny normally used when he pitched in. His supplies consisted of a hand-me-down hammer, screwdrivers, and other tools, even gloves. Gannon waved to his tiny daughter, Eliza, and then headed over to the door.

They passed by Pierre as he muttered on about needing mushrooms. Sabrina was just ahead, also muttering, but about numbers, quantity, quality, and other equations Denny couldn't understand. As they passed past Mirabelle's shop, Denny noticed that she had stolen away to speak with Felicia outside the shop. This was simply because Mirabelle's only costumer was Denny, and that was to buy bird feed for Popper. Down, by the shoreline, Eliza was pretending to run from a dragon, while Charlie was pretending to save her. Eliza didn't think he was big or strong enough though, and kept yelling at him. Another argument was taking place past Chen's shop. Natalie was doing the usual and chewing Elliot out for some mistake him made.

They rounded on the ranch then, across the bridge and onto the medium sized island to be stricken by the disarray of the place. Gannon had been correct, that house needed some work. It seemed like the rest of the island could be ignored when put against the house. It was the only building on the island that looked worse than his little shack, which he couldn't do much about. His house's structure was the problem, the support beams and actual base, while this house was all surface damage. Strip away the planks of wood and throw new ones up and you have a brand new house.

"Gonna take a lot 'o work." Gannon said, setting his tool box at his feet and patting his hands together. "Let's check inside." He said, leaving his toolbox where it sat and heading over to the door. He pulled a key from his pocket, and with a clank and a pop the door swung open.

Denny was surprise by just how bad the house was. The roof had almost caved in completely and left chucks of material on the floor. The floor was no better. Though the outside of the house looked as though the roof was fine, it had caved in on the underside and left water damage to the floor. Denny could see that the windows weren't put in right and still needed to be insulated, but most of the material around the windows were destroyed and needed to be replaced entirely.

"Roof needs ta be completely torn out, floor boards too. And fixing 'round the windows. Then I think the Taro family will be furnishing it." Gannon said. Denny looked over and could nearly see Gannon plotting out his battle plan against the house in his head.

"Windows first, then roof, then floors." Denny said, grinning up at the crumbling roof.

With a nod they begun their work, hustling around the house. This was the start of their three day job, and surprising enough as it was to Denny, they didn't manage to finish fixing up the house in a day. They had stumbled across black mold and had to completely rip out one of the walls to insure there was no more.

After working until sunset, they had all the walls fixed up, the new roof in, and only a floor to fix before they could move on. Calling it quits for the day, Denny gathered his stuff, his starving bird, and headed back out. He was asleep before he realized it and awoke way earlier than his body wanted too.

After shoving food in Poppers day and heading out the door, Denny was surprised to be met with warm weather. Snow blotted clouds of yesterday had disappeared entirely from the sky and the sun blazed down on him, warming his back.

A skip developed in his step before he reached the small house. Once they had begun working, Denny took back his happiness, hot weather and confined house doing manual labor doesn't work out. Somehow they managed to finish their job and get out to make the lumber shed before noon. They even managed to finish that task before the sun had set.

"Whelp, see you tomorrow?" Gannon ask him and he nodded.

"Sure thing, only got the Stables left, yeah?" Denny asked, pulling his working gloves off his fingers.

"Pretty much, that'll only take us an hour or two, though." Gannon said, then held up a finger as his mind rested on a thought. "Taro need to start moving the furniture in, go ahead and tell him that the house is done and they can get started tomorrow." Gannon said, and then nodded. "You may want to help them out tomorrow."

"Yeah, maybe, I'll go let them know." Denny said, turning and hurrying off towards Taro's house. Gannon waved a pudgy had at him and finished gathering his things as Denny made his way across the bridge.

"Ugh!" Denny heard Natalia whine. He looked around the face of the house to see that Elliot had dropped a box on Natalie's foot.

"You alright?" Denny asked, as he scooped up the heavy box and handed it to the dumbstruck Elliot.

"Yeah, fine." Natalie grumbled.

"Well, I came by to let you know that we finished up the house and everything can be moved in tomorrow." Denny said, but Natalie furrowed her brow.

"Day after tomorrow. Stupid Elliot decided to do the papers wrong, so the stuff won't be here until then." Natalia said, leaning against the side of her house.

"Well, I'll be here to help." Denny offered.

"They are going to be here on New Year's Eve. The festival." Natalie said, sounding even more annoyed with each passing moment.

"Ah…" Denny said, tapping his finger against his chin.

"NATALIE! ELLIOT!" Taro's angry voice came from within the house. Natalia shrugged, but timid Elliot nearly jumped out of his skin as they headed into the house. Denny decided he should head home too and get some sleep.

When he awoke, the day played out as the previous and he found himself on the ranch early morning helping Gannon with feeders. To both their dismay they found more black mold in the stables and had to rip apart the inner walls. By late afternoon, they had a huge pile of soggy, destroyed wood waiting to be dealt with, and after many trips, they had all the wood at Gannon's shop to be trashed.

Denny grumbled his way home, feeling sore and tired from all the work he did but knew he had to do more and was up before the sun. Within minutes he was outside Taro's family's house and out sat all the goods. A bed, a dresser, a phone, table, end table and chairs sat waiting to be moved, Denny got to work on the dresser, end table, phone, and chairs before anyone was up. He shoveled the items into the house where he thought they looked best and returned to knock on the door of Taro's house.

"What?" A sleepy Natalie came to the door.

"I got most of the stuff into the house. Can I get a hand with the table and bed?" Denny asked and watched as Natalie's face lit up.

"You put it all in the house?!" She asked, smiling at him.

"Yup."

"Well we still need to get some other little things into the house, but I'll help you with the bed and table." Natalie said, before disappearing into the house to wake her family. When she reappeared she looked ready. "Elliot and my mom are going to bring all the little things, let's get this crap to the house though." Natalie said, grabbing the base end of the bed. Sure Natalie was a short girl, but she packed a lot of manliness in that little frame. With the help of Denny they had the bed up in the air and were heading towards the house.

The bed wasn't too heavy, though it was made of wood, it was cheap and light. With just the mattress on it, it didn't weight them down, but Denny scanned it over.

"Why's it so girly?" Denny asked, looking at the flowery pattern on the mattress. It was the kind of dingy green and blue pattern that one didn't pay too much attention to, but it still confused him.

"Well, it's for a girl." Natalia said.

"Wait, but-OH." Denny said, the thought clicking in his head. "A girl is moving there?"

"Yeah, the man who bought the house sent us a letter, saying he was going to give the ranch to a girl named Chelsea." Natalie said as they came up on the house.

They set the bed down and Natalie pushed the door open all the way and they begun the horrible game of trying to squeeze and bed through a door. When it was in its place at the upper left hand corner of the room, they patted off their hands and headed out for the table while Elliot and Felicia funneled into the room to hang a calendar, a clock and other needs.

"So you know anything about this girl?" Denny asked but was met with Natalie's sly face.

"Why are you so interested?" She joked, giving him a soft snake like smile.

"I helped build that damn house." Denny nearly patted himself on the back for the good comeback. Denny wasn't a nosy person, but this time his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had to meet the girl. Tomorrow would come slowly.

"Sure…" Natalie said, locking her fingers behind her back as she walked. "The guy didn't say much about her in the letter, just that she would be getting the house. He said he's going to come by with her and give us the needs to know about the girl." Natalie said, and then smiled. "I hope she's fun, I'm looking forward to meeting her."

Denny looked up at the sky, which was still as clear as the day before and smiled.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting her too." Denny admitted then looked back down at the redhead.

"Hoho," She cooed. "Blind date much?"

"Whatever." Denny said, grabbing the end of the table when they reached it. With Natalie's help they hauled, it off to the house then helped Elliot and Felicia with the other little things while Taro sat in the corner writing a little manual for farming. By the time they were all finished up it was time for the New Year's Eve festival, and they made it right on time.

Denny enjoyed himself the best he could but his mind wouldn't leave the thought of this girl named Chelsea, the new rancher.

"Why are you blushing?" Lanna said suddenly, taking Denny off guard. Was he blushing? He put his fingers to his cheeks and smiled at Lanna.

"I was just thinking about how I didn't get anything for Winter Harmony Day, and I was looking forward to it. Guess no one will get anything in return." Denny said as Lanna's face turned pink.

"You're no fun." She said turning on her heels and marching away. Denny had been thinking of this new girl. What would she be like? What would she look like? Would she like fishing, and fish and everything fish related? Or would she be another Julia and gag at the sight of them? Would she be short, like Natalie, or tall, like Julia? Shy like Sabrina, or fun and social like Lanna? Or would she be her own? Would she be entirely new and fun.

Denny smiled to himself and he grabbed another bowl of noodles. Tomorrow was going to be good. After spending days making that place livable, Denny really wanted to see what this girl thought of it. Moreover, he really wanted to see what she thought of him. He closed his eyes for a second as he let him mind wander. He saw before him, a big eyed girl, but she was completely black and white, seeing as he had a pathetic imagination.

_Wow, you're so handsome. You helped build my house? _ He heard the girl coo. A smile, a pose and Denny was blushing again. Now more at himself than anything.

"I'm such a dork." He said, opening his eyes again. He shrugged off his anticipation and hurried back over to the bulk of the party. _Tomorrow…_


	2. Unexpected

Without A Word

**Chapter Two**: Unexpected

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Harvest Moon does not belong to me, nor do I intend to pretend it does. Chelsea, Denny, and all other Harvest Moon characters, along with places and ideas that relate to the Harvest Moon franchise do not belong to me.

**Special Thanks To**: Kirara2256 and YAYFanfics10 for giving me permission to use the concept. Thank you both.

I had fun writing this chapter. The next one will actually have Chelsea in it... I hope. Anyways, thanks to the readers, I hope you liked it. Sorry if I made Lanna look bad, but things will work out a little different than expected. Anyways, have fun with the chapter.

**Without a Word** is rated** T**. Suitable for ages 13 and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

**WARNING: RATING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

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**

Denny awoke with a bright smile and a skip in his step as usual, one would say, but today was nothing but usual. Today, the best day of the year, was upon him. With usual spunk of the first day of spring, there was also another thing that had the islands wound up. Along with the festival, the warmth, the fish, the pickings, crops, and just usual pep of spring also came a new arrival. Today, Chelsea, the new resident and farmer was to be here.

Denny had also been confused with this, though. He had been over excited, as though he were going to pop, with the simple thought of a new arrival. With fantasies and excitement, Denny had woken up early. Why was he so excited though? The islands had already been chalked full of new arrivals what was but one more? Then again, Denny had been over excited with each one. Lanna arrival was probably the biggest, seeing as she had movers drop her stuff in for her. Now this new girl, Chelsea. It was a different story. Winter had left all the islanders begging for so much more, and with spring up and a coming, the excitement of the new farmer had also greaten that. Denny rolled to his side on his small futon and thought it over. What exactly had he been expecting?

A breathtaking girl with a peppy personality? A stunning woman with a bossy attitude? Tomboyish and prankster, or withdrawn smarty? Why would he be excited for that, if he already knew girls like that? Even if he morphed everyone on this island into a female that would still just cover the basics. What he was looking forward to was the excitement of a new person. There was no way this Chelsea girl could be exactly like any of the other girls on the island. Just like the excitement of meeting people when he arrived, or meeting people when they arrived, it was a new adventure. Even if he didn't like the person all that well, or loved them, it was still fun and new, like catching a new fish.

Denny always heard other men talk of the perfect girl, she had to be an excellent cook, a curvy body, into whatever the man's interests were, a beautiful face and womanly attitude. It was like the king fish, the octopus Denny had heard of. Red, and large, not to mention the boss of all fish. No matter how many times someone had described it to him; it looked nothing like the description in his head. To him, the king fish was amazing and large, a fish of all fish. This image of the king fish was his own, and that was just how he thought of the perfect girl subject. Screw what other men wanted. Julia fit most of the perfect girl's description but Denny would off himself if he had to marry that girl. Afraid of fish? Grossed out by them? There was no way, what so ever.

No, Denny's perfect girl was his perfect girl, and he had no idea what that was. He couldn't give a hoot about the way she looked or most other surface things, all he knew is she had to at least like fish. Fishing, nah, she didn't have to fish, she could sit by the sidelines while he fished, or had to at least want to watch. Denny's day was consumed by fish; he would have no time for females unless they liked fishing. If he were to have his heart set on a girl, she had to have some preference towards fish. Lanna, now, she fit the bill. Fish, fish and more fish, only of course, when she wasn't talking about herself. She wouldn't close her mouth for an instant. He had tried going out fishing with her, and ended up wanting to push her into the water. I went on a boat a couple hundred times; let me recount each one in detail. Drove Denny up the wall. She wouldn't stop talking about this, or that, or her life, or what she used to do, or whom she used to know, ARGH. Lanna knew how to drive Denny insane, and could probably do it in a single day, but she did like to fish, so it evened out. Well, not really. Denny had to admit though, he did like Lanna. She was pretty and had nice hair, a little… dressy for him though. Well she was always in a dress it seemed. She made him smile, and made his heart flutter lightly in his chest, until she went on her talking streaks. Maybe it was what she spoke about that bothered him, sure, that slightly made him a hypocrite, all he spoke about, ever, was fish. This fish, that fish, the fish over there, the fish he caught, the fish he ate, fish, fish, fish. Lanna on the other hand was all in the past, where she used to go, what she used to do, and whom she used to see. It wasn't as though Denny didn't like to reminisce, it was nice to do sometimes, but ever word out of Lanna's mouth was the past. Denny couldn't live in the past, now, and tomorrow is where his thoughts sat. Which built to the hype of the new resident.

What would she be? How would she talk and walk? What would she like, where would she hang out? Who was she and would she be fun? It was too much, the anticipation of meeting new person, that is. Everything was a mystery, and would be until he really got to know whoever it was. Just like meeting someone, you may not like the outer person, as Denny didn't like Vaughn's outer, but the inner was exciting. So many questions bubbled up when you met someone, so many wonders, about the past, the present and the future. It was all three that captivated; all three that made Denny's blood rush through him.

Denny pushed himself into a sitting position as he thought it over, throwing his legs off the side of the bed. New was a word he liked, new was his favorite. Just with people and the ocean, they hid so many things. Denny had no clue how many fish were in the sea, nor what kind, and that's what was amazing about people. They held so many things, and the only way to find out was to hook them. Lanna was much like an open plain, or the dessert. There was nothing hidden and everything was within view, while Vaughn was more of a forest of deadly animals, you couldn't really get at all the information. Denny wanted to meet an ocean, be it male, female, old or young, he wanted to meet an endless ocean. Those were his hope for the day, and he couldn't help but cross his fingers as his blood pumped through him. That was all that excited him, meeting new people and finding out just what they were. He couldn't keep his thoughts off tomorrow, what he would find out and what he would learn.

First, he had to deal with today, but it wasn't exactly what he had expected, and in no time, he found himself in the oddest situation he had ever endured. In no time, Denny was dress and up, ready to head out for the day. First things come first and today it was the new girl. He had to introduce himself and meet her or he would never be able to sit still while he was fishing.

Before Denny realized what happened he found himself standing dumbstruck over a pale skinned brunette girl. She was sprawled on the floor, her eyes closed as though she were asleep, and tears on the corners of her eyes. Her beautiful golden brown hair lying against the dirt and her soft pink lips parted from the silent scream she had emitted a moment before. She had a red bandanna worn in the same manner as Denny's purple one and blue shorts with a yellow top and orange over shirt. On her feet were slightly oversized red boots that matcher her bandanna.

What had just happened? Denny stared wide eyed at the girl, trying to retrace the moments before. He knelt down beside her and went to place a hand on her shoulder when he heard the sounds of approaching feet.

"Don't touch her!" Elliot cried, hurrying to the girl's side. Behind him, Natalie was approaching, along with a pursed lipped Taro.

"What did you do?" Natalie said, grabbing Denny's elbow and pulling him up and away from the girl.

"It's okay Natalie." Taro said, eyeing the girl. "She's just fainted."

Natalie turned her eyes down to the girl as Elliot scooped her head up into his arms and brushed away hairs from her face.

"S-she fainted?" Denny said, placing a hand to his forehead.

He remembered walking onto the ranch to see the brunette girl standing in front of the house, stretching her arms and leaning her face up to the sun. Going to introduce himself, he approached her. That was when things got weird.

"You didn't touch her, did you?" Elliot asked, sounding angry.

"N-no!" Denny said, glancing at the faces watching him. "I was going to introduce myself and when I walked up to her she turned around and her eyes got all big as though I was going to kill her. Then she… started screaming I think… nothing came out. Then when I tried to ask her if she was alright she just fell down." Denny said, her terrified blue eyes burned into his mind. "Why was her scream silent?" Denny wondered aloud.

Denny's eyes fell back on the girl, looking her over again. She was absolutely tiny, and thin. She was maybe a grand 5'4" while Denny was a solid 5'11" and a half. Everything about her was small. Her arms were thin, with long elegant fingers, legs were thin, but not like twigs. Her torso was small and she didn't have the curves of Julia. No this girl was small, and thin, and in no way curvy. Denny had to admit, her body fit her. She wasn't horribly thin, or disgustingly thin. No just perfect for her height.

"She's mute." Natalie said solidly. "That's why you couldn't hear her scream."

"Mute?" Denny repeated, staring at Natalie's serious face.

"Here, let's talk about this somewhere else. She might wake up soon." Elliot said, still cradling the girl. Then, in a show of what little strength Elliot possessed, he lifted the girl up in his arms, one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees. The girl's head lolled to the side without support and Elliot stood triumphant.

As he turned to the door of her house, she opened her eyes. Slowly slid them open and rested them on Denny. It took a second for her eyes to show the terror she had before, but it happened none the less. Her big blue eyes stared at him, eyebrows pressing up in fear as her head disappeared into the house.

"Go ahead and explain everything to him, Natalie. I'm going to help her with the farm." Taro said, placing his hands on his hips, then entering the house. Felicia currently wasn't present due to helping set up the New Year's Day party.

"The man that bought this island came here last night. Really late to tell us about Chelsea, and introduce her." Natalia said, motioning for Denny to follow her as she turned and walked away. "He told us that he was her foster father, and also runs an orphanage on the main land. He said he found her about nine years ago, and from then, till now, she hasn't spoken a single word, let along made any noise." Natalie gave Denny a look of sympathy for the girl. "She's mute, but no one knows if it's because she can't talk or she simply won't talk."

"Okay, so that explains the scream. Why did she faint?" Denny said, stopping when they reached the bridge.

"She's afraid of men-"

"She's in that house with Taro and Elliot." Denny said, turning to head back. " She's going to have a heart attack-"

"That are larger than her." Natalie said, stopping Denny in his spot.

"What?" Denny said, looking back at her.

"She's afraid of men that are large than her. Elliot and Taro are short. Even Pierre is so she can be around them. You on the other hand… You're a big guy. You're not thin like Elliot, and you're not short like Pierre." Natalie's eyes were soft as she spoke. "You go out and fish every day on your boat, it builds you up. That's what terrifies her."

"Why?" Denny said, he felt himself growing angry with every word. "Why is she scared of men?"

"We don't know. Nor her foster father. She's been scared of them since he found her." Natalie said. Denny kicked the dirt.

"How big is this foster father of hers?" Denny asked, pacing a few steps.

"Tiny guy really." Natalie begun. Denny turned and kicked the post of the bridge as his anger swelled up. "You can't be mad at her!" Natalie said, stepping closer to Denny.

"I'm not mad at her!" Denny almost yelled at Natalie. With notable anger in Denny's voice, Natalie flinched back. Natalie was strong, but anyone would be scared of Denny when he was pissed.

"Then what are you mad about? What are you feelings her that she fainted on you or what?" Natalie snapped back, standing her ground.

"Natalie!" Denny suddenly grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Think about it. She's mute. There are only a few reasons for that, broken vocal cords or something else. The fear of men on top of that. She's not talking for a reason." Denny was trying to keep his composure, trying to explain what he thought to Natalie.

"Yeah it's a bad situation, bu-"

Denny squeezed her shoulders in his hands. Just enough to get her to look back up at him. "Natalie, think of all the horrible things a man can do to you to make to mute and terrified of anything bigger than yourself."

Natalie's eyes dashed around, looking around the farm and down at Denny's arms. He saw her eyes slowly swell with tears and widen. "T-that's…" Natalie tried to bite back her composure.

"We don't know what happened, but just imagine." Denny said, still holding back the sorrow in his heart. Suddenly Natalie's feature were overwhelmed with ferocity.

"I'd kill him. Whoever it was, I'd just kill him." Natalie hissed, her eyes thinning with her composure. "Who would do something so bad? That's so rotten."

"And she hasn't spoken in, what, nine years? She had to be really young at that point, don't you think?" Denny said, feeling himself quiver with nausea.

Natalie's face was red with anger as she quivered in his hands. "I can't believe… I feel so bad for her."

Denny shook his head then. "Don't feel sorry for her. She probably doesn't want that…" Sure Denny was a helpful guy, always pitching in and doing what he thought was right, but now he felt as though he would never be able to sleep again. She wouldn't be able to leave the farm, buy animals or seeds. She wouldn't be able to buy tools or upgrade her house. She couldn't go to festivals and she couldn't make friends, all because someone robbed her of that. He felt the excessive need to help her, to aid her in her life, but he had no chance. Everything he was happened to be everything she feared.

Denny turned and headed away from Natalie, letting the girl brood in her anger. Natalie would be able to help her… a little. She needed to get over her fear of men… She needed a life of her own.

"Where are you going?" Natalie called, watching Denny as he walked off.

"To clear my head, I'm going fishing." Denny said, hurrying back across the bridge. When he reached his house, he gathered his equipment and Popper and headed towards the boat when he heard footsteps from behind him. He looked to see who it was, and in his blur of thoughts be barely recognized it as Lanna.

"Hi Denny how… are you alright?" She asked gently, staring up at him with her big brown eyes. His face must have told her most of what she needed to know.

"Not really. Why?" Denny asked, dropping his things in his boat.

"You're leaving for fishing pretty late, and your face is all… drained." She said, reaching one of her small hands out to touch his bare arm.

"Met the new farmer." Denny said, in a plain tone.

"Oh… did you? What happened?" Lanna asked. Denny felt the rush of anger again at the thought of her.

"You should go ask Taro, or Elliot. I don't want to talk about it." Denny hopped down into his boat and looked back up at the sad eyed Lanna. "Going fishing."

"You'll get lost!" She said, hurrying to the side of the boat. "You're in a daze, don't go."

Denny let his fingers slid over the soft feathered head of his small black bird. "Nah, I got Popper." He said, then pushed the boat from the dock.

After a good thirty minutes of pushing himself out into the open water, Denny laid back in the boat. He had already cast his net into the water and was merely waiting for a bite. As he let the boat drift across the surface of the water, Popper flapped over to him and perched on his chest. Denny pressed his fingers against the chest of the bird and felt its tiny heart beat.

"I got you, right Popper?" Denny asked nonchalantly. The bird ruffled its feathers and puffed it chest, then cooed. With Popper, Denny could navigate the seas without a second thought. Other than loving the bird to death, he kept him for that reason as well.

Denny had found him years ago as a child, washed up on the shore. The bird had almost drowned and was wounded badly and Denny felt sorry for it. After nursing it back to health, he set it free, letting it go back to wherever it had come from. The bird had flown away, and Denny thought that was the last of it, but the bird came back with a small gold coin in his mouth and perched itself on his shoulder, and that was where he stayed. He would try to release it every few days, but every time the bird would fly off and find something to bring back. That was how he used the bird for navigation. If lost at sea, he would toss Popper into the air and he would fly off to land to bring something back to Denny. Sometimes weeds or pebbles, sometimes coins or even grass, but watching where Popper went showed Denny where to go.

Denny had always been confused about what kind of bird Popper was. He didn't look like a parrot but could speak like one. After years of trying to figure it out Denny threw up his hands and gave up. Popper was Popper, and that was all he needed to know.

As he laid back in his boat, watching the first clouds of spring skim by the sky he realized he had not fished today and felt his heart drop. No fish, none at all, and now the day was growing old and he had no time to cast his net. His only hope was his fishing rod. As he sighed, he grabbed Popper from his perch on his chest and tossed him up in the air, watching as the bird caught flight and turned behind him, flapping off towards land. Denny sat up and begun the long trip back after pulling in the handful of fish he caught with his net.

As Denny rowed his way back to land, Popper came back with a small seed in his mouth and dropped it in Denny's hand. He scanned the small piece of life over with his eyes, curious as to where it came from. His eyes looked up at Popper who landed on the front of the boat.

"Where'd you get this, you little thief?" Denny said, poking a finger against the puffed chest of the bird.

"Watch for birds, Watch for birds, Chelsea. Gonna take, gonna take." Popper recited lifting a wing up. Denny's mouth dropped open as the bird repeated itself. Chelsea? Popper took it off Chelsea's farm? Denny smacked his hand against his forehead. What Popper was reciting must have been Taro telling Chelsea to watch for birds that'll eat her seeds.

Denny rolled his eyes and stuffed the small seed in his pocket and continued his row back only to find Lanna still standing on the dock. He rubbed his forehead as he thought over what he would say as he thought of the small seed in his pocket. The least he could do was return it, but was there really a point? She probably paid good money for the seed though, and he felt as though he was stealing it.

As he pulled his boat up to dock, he looked up a Lanna. He gave her a soft grin before she knelt by the side of the boat.

"I heard what happened." Lanna said, gently smiling at him. "I heard about the girl."

"Her name is Chelsea." Denny answered.

"Sad, isn't it. I've worked with mute children once. We were doing a show, just when I was hitting it big, and we were going to have them dance. It's hard to break that wall they have, but I suggest you just back off. There isn't a whole lot you can do and-"

"Lanna." Denny cut her off. He knew she was giving him advice, but it was more of the past, and he didn't want that. He wanted to think of the day Chelsea would attend a festival, or go buy lumber from Gannon. Not of the past, of her past. "I'm fine. I need to get these fish in." He said, pulling himself out of the boat. He past Lanna without another word. For a girl, she had no clue how to comfort a person.

As Denny entered his house, he felt sadness waft over him as he realized he had no more desire to fish for the day. He crumbled into his futon and cursed his luck of the day. First day of spring and probably the worst was to start the year. By tripping and falling on your face. Metaphorically of course, but none the less. As he lay against his bed, staring over at the fish he had dropped on his counter, he cursed again. Still had to put those away.

For some reason his mind wafted to the islander's preferences. Julia, along with Vaughn hated fish, and most other's had no preference to fish, or kind of liked them, only when cooked a certain way. The only other person who liked fish was Lanna, and she didn't really like them all that much. Denny had already came to the conclusion that Lanna was the kind of girl who wanted to empower herself, doing something most people said she couldn't was the only things she wanted to do. Denny had noticed this a while back, because she was that open book. She would lie, just for the hell of it, and do things, just because she shouldn't. Her parents didn't want her to be a pop start, and in the early years she had to preference to it, yet, when she learned that, it became her sole goal. Interviews she went to, she would lie to them, just because she could. Just because she knew, they would believe her. She was like that, and Denny wasn't sure why. She had also found out she had a collection of fish she kept in her house, along with rods and pictures of fish. Best fishing spots and biggest fish, but she slapped the fish in a case to show off to others.

Denny's mind wandered back to the time he had found out…

"_Why do you keep the fish in that case?" Denny asked, tapping his finger against the glass. It was the first time he had ever gone to her house._

"_Oh, it looked nice doesn't it?" She asked as she grinned._

"_Don't they go bad in there?" Denny asked, feeling the glass. It was room temperature._

"_Oh, I throw them out every night and replace them with new ones." She said, pulling the case open. Denny didn't mind the smell of fish, but even left in room temperature for a few minutes made them smell bad. She had dozen of fish coming in and out and so each one that went in soaked the pink lined case with its juices and made the next one rot even quicker. The case smelt back, and Denny pushed the lid back down. _

"_Why don't you eat them?" Denny asked, looking at her big eyes. He had given her tons of gifts of fish, did she even really want them._

"_Occasionally. I like sweet foods better. Apple Pie, Baked Apple, Baked Banana, Baked Yam, Bamboo Dumpling, Bouillabaisse, Buckwheat Dumpling, Cake, Candied Potato, Carpaccio, Chazuke, Cheesecake, Chestnut Bun…" She went on and on. _

"_If you catch one hundred fish, how many do you eat?" Denny asked, his fingers still resting on the case._

"_Like… a few. Maybe three to five." Lanna said, still smiling. _

"_What about the fish I give you?" Denny said very bluntly. She smiled wider._

"_I put them in the case." She said, tilting her head to the side and making her golden hair sweep around her. "It's a gift, so I save them."_

"_But you throw it out at night."_

"_Or they would be rotten." Lanna answered, becoming confused with Denny's increased anger._

"_What do you do with the ones you throw out?" He asked, turning to the case. He noticed a fish he had given her that morning sitting against the side of the case. It had a scar on its fin, that was how he knew it was his._

"_I throw them out…" Lanna said, furrowing her brow in confusion. _

"_I never smell rotten fish. Where do you put them?" Denny asked, feeling his knuckles ache as he gripped the side the case._

"_Back." Was all he needed to hear. It was all she said._

"_You put them back in the ocean. So you kill them for no reason?" Denny said, rounding on her._

"_No, there's a reason." She was still oblivious to his point._

"_What's that?"_

"_It's fun."_

_Denny had to keep himself from screaming at her. "Have you heard of the king fish?"_

_Lanna's eyes lit up. "One day I'm going to put him in this case." She said, reaching her fingers out to touch the glass. Denny brushed past her, trying not to scream at her._

_Later that day when he had regained his composure he had to go ask her. "Why do you fish?" _

_Her big brown eyes turned up to him and she smiled. "Pop stars don't fish. Right? Well I do. I'm the one in a million." Lanna said, still smiling. _

"_Why do you tell them that you like tennis then?" Denny asked._

"_Cause then they would know, and I wouldn't be the only one anymore."_

"_Any other reason you fish?" He asked, not expecting an answer._

"_Well…" Lanna said, leaning in. "Between you and I… My dad didn't think it was right for women to fish, let alone go on a fishing boat-"_

"_That's a tradition." Denny's voice was quivering. "It was an old tradition that was abolished during my grandparent's time." Lanna had told Denny how old her father had been, Lanna was only twenty one and her father had been in his late forty when he had Lanna. Now the man had to be close to 70. While his grandparents had Denny's father when they were twenty, and Denny's father had him when he was twenty. The tradition had been abolished forty years ago, about, making Lanna's father stuck on his way's when it happened. Denny was happy for the abolishment, but understood why it meant so much to others. "It's an old standing tradition. Which means the only reason you fish during the day is to throw it in your father's face?" _

Denny sighed and rubbed his head. Maybe that was the true reason he couldn't put up with Lanna for more than five minutes, but he wasn't too sure. Finally casting the thought away, he grumbled. No one seemed to like fish as much as him. Then suddenly it dawned on him. What if Chelsea liked fish? She couldn't say she did, but what if? He knew the only way he could find out.

Finally jumping out his bed, he shoved the fish in the fridge and grabbed a sheet of paper. He jot down what he thought for the moment, knowing he would revise it later, then hurried out with his fishing rod.

When he finally caught a big enough fish, he pushed it into the fridge with the others and grabbed another sheet of paper.

Chelsea~!

I wanted to give you a welcome to the island's present, but since your condition, I couldn't give it to you in person. I don't know if you like fish, though I hope you do, but I will let you have this fish. If you don't like fish, please leave it outside before you go to sleep, and I'll be sure not to give you fish anymore. If you don't want anything from me again, please leave the fish on your porch with anything red on it.

Sorry I scared you yesterday!

Denny quickly doodled a crappy version of himself by the edge of the paper with a fish in his hands and went to bed. In the morning, he would take the note and fish and set it on her porch before she awoke. Then he would come back that night, fully knowing he would most likely be getting his fish and something red in return. The thought of it might working is what helped him sleep.


End file.
